Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated cutter, which turned timber to boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The First True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary motion to up-and-down action for the saw. Another component changed the rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that the machine operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward stroke and moving with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
